The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust
The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust ('the Trust') owned GWR 5600 class 6634, which arrived at the SVR for restoration in 2009, and left in an incomplete state in 2017 to move to Peak Rail.
History of the Trust[edit | edit source]
The Trust is an unincorporated Registered Charity No. 1039409, first registered in 1994. Its aim is the “preservation of historic railway engines, carriages and ancillary items, education of the general public as to the historical significance of preserved railways through the promotion of actual rolling stock and scale models.” Its Trustees include Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL.[1] In 2016 Dr Waterman became a vice-president of the Transport Trust, a UK charity dedicated to the preservation of the nation's transport heritage.[2] In 2018 he became President of Peak Rail plc[3].
Peak Rail's Press Release in May 2015 announced: "Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL is delighted to announce that he has reached an agreement with Peak Rail to base his Waterman Railway Heritage Trust assets at its Rowsley site”[4] His two other standard gauge steam locomotives, GWR 4575 Class 2-6-2T No. 5553 and GWR 5205 Class 2-8-0T No. 5224 moved in that year from Crewe Heritage Centre to Peak Rail to be overhauled.[5] After that time, the Trust employed a number of people on site at Peak Rail as part of a mechanical engineering team tasked with restoring the locomotives in the Trust's collection[6].
In 2016 the Trust sold the unrestored 7027 Thornbury Castle[7].
In late 2025 Dr Waterman announced that he had put his [sic] steam locomotive collection including still-unrestored 6634 up for sale, having already disposed of his [sic] diesel locomotive fleet.[note 1] His Peak Rail based Waterman Locomotive Engineering Company Ltd had also been closed.
Financial settlement with the SVR[edit | edit source]
Work on locomotive 6634 stalled in 2012 after the boiler tubeplate was stolen from Crewe Heritage Centre, where boiler work was being carried out. By 2014 the SVR reported that there was no progress or commitment on the boiler and the SVR was seeking legal advice concerning the continued lack of progress in order to resolve this long running problem.[8][9] The 2017 SVR(H) accounts included a £65k settlement from the Trust[10].
Other rolling stock and railway models[edit | edit source]
The trust also owns (or owned) 2ft gauge Garratt 2-6-2+2-6-2 No 190, formerly resident GWR Hawksworth 12 wheeled Sleeping Coach 9082, BR(LMR) Staffs Area Managers Inspection Saloon DB 999501, and BR 21T steel open mineral wagon No B313014 and BR Pallet Van No B769951[6]. It also owns (or owned) substantial amounts of railway models. It was reported that Dr Waterman auctioned around a tenth of his [sic] collection of railway models in April 2015 for more than £600,000, in order to “raise enough money to secure the future of the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust”.[11]
Subsequently, income to the Trust in its annual returns in the years ending March 2015-20 was £40,203 and spending £570,253[12].
See also[edit | edit source]
Preservation groups formerly associated with the SVR
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 08830, D7659 (25309/25909), 46035 (D172) Ixion and 47402 Gateshead
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The Charity Commission
- ↑ The Transport Engineer 9 January 2017 (Retrieved 2 February 2017)
- ↑ Steam Railway Magazine, 27 April 2018
- ↑ Peak Rail Press Release 12 May 2015
- ↑ Peak Rail Wikipedia
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Waterman Railway Heritage Trust page on Peak Rail website (Retrieved 8 October 2021, broken link December 2025)
- ↑ Railway Magazine 1 August 2016
- ↑ SVRLive News update 19 February 2014
- ↑ SVRLive News update 4 July 2014
- ↑ Minutes of the SVR(H) AGM held on 16 June 2018, Para. 4
- ↑ BBC 16 April 2015
- ↑ The Charity Commission
Links[edit | edit source]
Charity Commission entry for The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust.